


Five Years' Time

by queenofchildren



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 12:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3729079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofchildren/pseuds/queenofchildren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years in the story of Clarke and Bellamy. Featuring: Rum, heartbreak, Die Hard, weddings, zoo animals, mommy!Octavia, Clarke's five-year-plan and chill uncle!Bellamy. </p>
<p>(Originally posted on tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Years' Time

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have the mental capacity to update Pistols at Dawn right now, but I still need to procrastinate. Inspired by and set to Noah and the Whale's song 5 Years' Time.

It begins with an empty bottle of rum, an overflowing ashtray and a puffy-faced Clarke who looks so miserable that Bellamy actually feels bad for her.

He’s not normally the biggest fan of his sister’s roommate and best friend, mostly because she’s bossy and annoying and takes up way too much of Octavia’s time. Not to mention she introduced his little sister to her buddy Lincoln from one of her art classes, and now Octavia is getting married to him after knowing him for little over a year.

But when Octavia tasks him with feeding her cat while she and Lincoln check out a few wedding venues over the weekend, Bellamy lets himself into the girls’ apartment to find Clarke there unexpectedly, slumped over the kitchen table with an empty bottle of rum next to her, smoking up a storm in the early afternoon.

“What the fuck kind of weird party are you having here, Princess?” He expects her to tell him not to call her Princess, as she usually does, but she just lifts her head wearily to stare at him with bloodshot eyes, sniffling.

“A pity party.” She lets out a quick laugh that promptly turns into a sob, and then her head flops down onto her arms and her shoulders start shaking and he realizes she’s crying.  _Well, shit._

For a moment, Bellamy remains frozen in the still-open door, wondering what the hell he’s supposed to do now. His first instinct is to call Octavia, but she’s been looking forward to this weekend so much because her work hasn’t left her much time to prepare the wedding, and he doesn’t want to spoil her trip. He closes the door so that Octavia’s devil’s spawn of a cat can’t escape and takes a few steps closer, wrinkling his nose at the stench of smoke and alcohol. He hadn’t even known Clarke was a smoker, he always pegged her for the healthy, responsible type.

He cracks a window before putting on some coffee - they’re both going to need it, he suspects. “What are you even doing here? Octavia said you’d be visiting your Mom over the weekend.”

“I was.” She hiccups. “I was going to introduce her to Finn!” That prompts another round of sobs, as well as a sinking feeling in Bellamy’s stomach. For all his animosity towards Clarke, his sister insists on keeping him updated with her best friend’s life, and so he’s heard a bit about Finn – he and Clarke met a few months ago, she was really smitten, so was he, but apparently the guy is also kind of unreliable and has a tendency to cancel on short notice or not answer calls for days on end. Suffice it to say, Bellamy has a feeling he knows where this is going.

He snatches up the empty bottle and the full ashtray and throws both out before setting down a glass of water next to Clarke on the table and taking the chair next to her. He can’t believe he’s going to do this, but Bellamy asks: “So what happened?”

Not that it’s any of his concern if Clarke is having problems with her boyfriend, but she looks so sad and so small, and he can’t just leave her alone here.

“We were going to drive up there right around now. I thought it would be nice to have breakfast together before we left, some peace and quiet before we face my Mom. But when I got to his apartment…” Her face scrunches up and she visibly struggles to suppress another sob. “He was with his girlfriend. I’m the other woman, Bellamy.”

Maybe it’s the sadness and betrayal in her voice or maybe it’s the fact that she says his name, but Bellamy leans over and pulls her against his chest, and then she’s crying into his shirt and he’s rubbing her back and whispering soothing nonsense and wishing a fiery death on this Finn guy.

When Clarke has calmed down a little, Bellamy gets up to make pancakes because he guesses she did not have breakfast after the morning’s surprise. Sipping the coffee he slides towards her, Clarke then proceeds to unleash a torrent of worries and anxieties that makes his head spin. Bellamy always figured she was the kind of person who worries a lot, but this is just ridiculous: She worries about Finn’s girlfriend and the fact that she helped to hurt an unsuspecting woman. She worries about her mother who was looking forward to this weekend because they haven’t seen each other in ages. She worries about Octavia and spoiling her pre-wedding happiness with her break-up moping. She worries about having to attend Octavia’s wedding without a date and about ending up alone and childless while all her friends get married, and at that point Bellamy snaps.

“For fuck’s sake, Clarke, pull yourself together. Just call your Mom and say something came up and you’ll drive up there next weekend. Let Finn deal with his girlfriend because she’s not your problem. Then you hole up here with chocolate and comfort movies until Octavia comes back and then you let her coddle you for a bit because you know that’s what she’s going to do. And you’re sure as hell not going to end up alone. If anything, you’re going to end up with someone who actually appreciates and deserves you, and if you’re that freaked out about Octavia’s wedding, I’ll be your date. Just… stop worrying so much. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

She looks at him, eyes wide as saucers. “You would do that? You don’t even like me.” Well, that’s what he thought too, and yet here he is, listening to her sniffly rant and plying her with water and coffee and greasy pancakes to make sure she won’t have the mother of all hangovers later.  

“Yeah, well, you’re important to my sister, as is this wedding, and I’m not going to let you ruin it by showing up alone and sulking throughout the ceremony.”

“Charming.”

That’s me. Now eat.” He sets down a plate of pancakes before both of them and they tuck in in silence. When he leaves a little later, she’s curled up on the sofa, sleeping off the alcohol. For her sake, he really hopes that bottle wasn’t full when she started on it.

But just in case, he checks in on her in the evening, bringing by a tub of ice-cream and some of Octavia’s favourite movies on DVD. They end up watching Die Hard together, and Clarke only cries twice, which, given the circumstances, is really all he could hope for. When a dark-haired guy shows up at the door and practically begs her to talk, Bellamy puts two and two together, arrives at the conclusion that this must be Finn, and asks him to leave with his best big brother-glare. Clarke rolls her eyes and informs him that she doesn’t need him to fight her battles, but she nonetheless looks relieved when Finn leaves, and when Bellamy figures it’s safe to leave her alone and head home later, she actually thanks him.

“I’ll take you up on that offer to be my date for the wedding, you know.”

“You do that, Princess.”

She does, actually, and maybe that’s really how it begins, at Octavia’s wedding five months later. But in Bellamy’s memory, it will always begin with that morning in the kitchen.

***

 

Bellamy Blake is a big old softie, and he’s starting to accept this fact. He still tries to hide it, mostly through grumbling and sarcasm, but his sister has figured it out years ago and can now artfully manipulate him with some timely-deployed puppy eyes. Not only that, but he finds himself occasionally doing things that he would never otherwise do just to help people. Now, for example, he is attending his sister’s wedding as her best friend’s date – her best friend whom he could barely tolerate just a few months ago. 

His opinion of Clarke has recently improved, however, because even reeling from a brutal break-up, she did not slack off on helping Octavia prepare the wedding. On the contrary, the few times they met due to wedding-related business – Clarke is Octavia’s maid of honour and Bellamy her only family, after all – Clarke was all business, meticulously prepared and determined to make this the best wedding the world has ever seen. In the absence of any other female family member, Clarke has apparently decided to be Octavia’s best friend, sister, mother and wedding-planner all wrapped up in one person. And she did a splendid job, Bellamy has to admit. Everything is exactly as his sister wanted it, and thanks to Clarke’s artistic streak, everything from the invitations to the flowers in church to the decorations at the ballroom looks amazing.

So does Clarke, he can’t help but notice when he picks the girls up at Clarke’s apartment where they got ready for the ceremony. Of course no one shines brighter on this day than Octavia, but Clarke in her dark blue dress, with light make-up and her hair artfully swept up, is no wallflower either. She looks good, and not just compared to the mess she was the day she broke up with Finn. Bellamy forces himself not to think of any other words to describe her, but there would be a few.

Not only does she clean up nicely, Clarke also turns out to be quite a good date. She tears up a little during the ceremony (as does Bellamy himself), but other than that, she shows no sign of being a lovesick mess. In fact, she’s so openly happy for Octavia and Lincoln that he feels a little bad for disliking her in the past – someone who cares so much for his sister can’t be that bad, really. But what really surprises him is how much fun Clarke is. During those inexplicably long stretches of standing around and waiting that seem to come with weddings – waiting for everyone to wish the bride and groom luck, for a million photographs to be taken, for the signal to move on to the reception venue – Clarke entertains him by filling him in on all the gossip about Octavia’s college friends, most of whom he doesn’t know very well. It turns out that Clarke has a rather delightfully dry humour, and before he knows it, they’re drinking champagne together and toasting the happy couple.

In fact they’re so harmonious that throughout the reception people ask them if they too will get married soon, and they have to keep telling incredulous well-wishers that they are notactually together. It’s a little creepy, to be honest, and after dinner and what feels like the hundredth remark about what a lovely couple they make, Bellamy hastily mumbles an excuse and makes the rounds through the reception hall before he can start actually agreeing with people. (It’s just that… Clarke looks hot, alright? She looked good in church this morning, but now her updo is starting to come undone and her cheeks are flushed and she looks downright fuckable in addition to being really hilarious, so excuse him for being a little overwhelmed by this unexpected development.)

When he returns to the table a little while later, it is to find Clarke gazing forlornly over the rim of her half-empty champagne glass, and he feels a stab of guilt about leaving her alone. Lincoln and Octavia are swaying on the dance floor, completely wrapped up in each other, and he figures that as happy as Clarke is for her best friend, the sight can’t be exactly helpful after her recent break-up.

“How are you dealing with the Finn thing?”

She looks momentarily startled to find him sitting down next to her, which he guesses is understandable - they haven’t mentioned that particular topic at all since the day he did some damage control on her post-breakup-binge.  “It still hurts, but it’s getting better.”

Her straight answer is as surprising as it is flattering. For some reason, Bellamy likes the idea that she didn’t feel the need to smile and pretend to be completely fine around him. “Good.”

“And if anything, I’ve learned to stay away from guys like that. Or any guys, really. Now I just have to decide if I want to become a cat lady in my old age or get a couple of dogs. Personally I’d prefer dogs, but I don’t want them to eat me if I die alone in my apartment.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. He’s pretty sure she’s joking because she’s always seemed rather independent, so if anyone’s going to be fine no matter what it should be her. But her smile doesn’t really reach her eyes and she punctuates the statement with a long draft of champagne, and he’s not entirely sure just how over Finn she actually is – there’s still an air of sadness lingering around her that suddenly makes him want to cheer her up.

“Tell you what, if you really are single and unhappy about it by the time you turn thirty, I’ll marry you.”

The moment the words have left his mouth, Bellamy wishes the ground would open up and swallow him. Offering to be her date to this wedding was one thing, because he actually did do that mostly so she wouldn’t cause any drama at the reception. But this? He sounds like he’s very clumsily trying to hit on her. And just to be clear, if he was going to hit on her, there would be nothing clumsy about it. For one thing, he sure as hell wouldn’t have suggested getting married in a couple of years – he’d have suggested sneaking out for some rebound sex and then made sure it’d be the best sex she ever had. Which, come to think of it, is what he should have done in the first place. That bossy streak of hers might translate quite nicely into a bedroom setting… He realizes suddenly that Clarke hasn’t said a thing yet and focuses on her once more.

She looks at him wide-eyed and then bursts out laughing, which, honestly, is a little insulting.

“You’d be lucky to have me, you know. I’d make an excellent husband.”

“I know, I’m sorry. That was a very chivalrous offer, and I’ll be happy to take you up on it if necessary.” And before he knows what’s happening, she leans over and kisses him on the cheek before standing up and holding out her hand.

“Come on, future husband, let’s dance.”

Joining Clarke and Octavia’s crazy friends on the dancefloor, they end up dancing long into the night and having a surprising amount of fun. After listening awkwardly as everyone gushed over him and Clarke and then striking out with Lincoln’s hot cousin a few hours ago, Bellamy had almost started to regret asking Clarke to be his date, but now he’s not so sure anymore. After all, he can get laid any day. But watching Clarke Griffin do her very unique interpretation of the macarena – that is something else entirely.

***

 

After Octavia’s wedding, things change between Clarke and Bellamy. He wouldn’t say they’re friends exactly, but they’re not actively trying to avoid each other anymore either. They even manage to cooperate when they’re helping Octavia move out of the apartment she shares with Clarke. Since Octavia is five months pregnant, Lincoln has thrown out his back two days earlier and their friends can’t make it that weekend for various reasons, Clarke and Bellamy pretty much do the whole thing on their own. Bellamy has helped a few people move over the years, but never has he had to shout so much. And yet, they get the whole thing done within a few hours.

For a while after that, they don’t see much of each other, since Bellamy doesn’t really have a reason to come by the apartment where Clarke lives alone now. That changes when Allie is born, because Clarke is nothing if not diligent in her responsibilities as a godmother, and Bellamy is determined to be the best uncle any kid could wish for. Between Lincoln’s outlandish installation art and Octavia’s determination to become the youngest female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Bellamy thinks the kid needs at least one normal family member.

And without Bellamy even noticing, Clarke somehow finds her way not only into Octavia’s heart but into his own. When they meet in church for Allie’s christening, Clarke gives him such a bright smile that he quickly shoots out a barb about not dropping her goddaughter so she doesn’t see him blush. It’s not even that he’s actually that happy to see her; hell, he’s here with his girlfriend of three months who’s sweet and hot and currently glaring daggers at Clarke. But in her flowery summer dress, holding little Allie and smiling brighter than the sun, Clarke looks a far cry from the drunk, sobbing mess he found in her kitchen two years ago. That is all, really – she’s family now, apparently, and Bellamy wants his family to be happy. (The queasy feeling in his stomach has definitely nothing to do with the fact that he still vividly remembers the time they bumped into each other under the mistletoe last Christmas and Octavia led all of their friends into a chant of “Kiss, kiss, kiss” until they did.)

But while the strange feeling and his tendency to smile like an idiot around Clarke never really go away, they also never really develop into anything more – mostly because Bellamy doesn’t let them. He has a girlfriend, and then a different one, and the one time he’s single for a prolonged amount of time, Clarke has a girlfriend. Things with Lexa don’t end quite as disastrously as they did with Finn, apparently, but Clarke nonetheless throws herself into her work afterwards, and somehow there is never really a moment for him to say certain things. 

That is, until the day Octavia asks them both to come to the zoo with her and Allie. Lincoln is busy with an exhibit opening, and Octavia is only too happy not to be alone with an energetic three-year-old. In fact, she flops down on an empty bench in the sunshine and tells them to go on without her the moment they’ve passed the entrance. Knowing how much overtime his little sister has put in recently, Bellamy lets her have this break and doesn’t complain about being exploited as a babysitter, not that he’d mind anyway. He doesn’t really have to do much: Clarke is patiently reading out the information boards about every single animal they see, which is surely more knowledge than any three-year-old could possibly need. But Allie beams at her smart aunt and Clarke beams back and Bellamy is content to just follow his girls as they explore the zoo.  

At some point while Allie is completely absorbed in watching the polar bears play, they do manage to strike up a proper conversation, mostly small-talk about what’s happening in their lives. Unfortunately, he gets a bit distracted by the way the wind ruffles her hair and the sunlight makes it practically gleam, and he has to force himself to listen instead of just watching her lips move and trying not to remember that Christmas. (And actually every Christmas since then, come to think of it, because Octavia’s house is always riddled with mistletoe.)

“And then of course the big three-oh is coming up…” Right, her thirtieth birthday. For weeks now, Octavia has been sending him on errands for the surprise party she’s planning for Clarke. The words pull at something inside his mind, something connected to that particular event, but he can’t for the life of him remember what it was.  “Got anything big planned to celebrate?”

“Well, I was thinking a spring wedding might be nice.”

That is such an odd answer that it takes him a few moments to understand what the hell she’s talking about. When he does, he almost falls off the bench they’re sitting on.

“You can’t possibly mean that thing I said about getting married!”

“Oh, so you do remember.”

“That was years ago, and we were drunk.”

“Not that drunk. And if this is your attempt to get out of that offer, you are sadly mistaken. You promised me a husband by my thirtieth birthday, and I expect you to deliver.”

He is completely struck dumb, staring open-mouthed at her deadly serious expression. The thing about Clarke is that her ambitious nature comes with a side of ruthless crazy that means one can never be entirely sure what she’s going to do, and right now, he wouldn’t put it past her to have included him in her very meticulous and regularly updated five-year-plan. (They had a long discussion about The Plan a while back, with Clarke being of the opinion that people need goals and Bellamy arguing that you can’t plan everything in life and there’s nothing wrong with a little chaos.)

And then, finally, a little gleam sneaks into her eyes and she breaks out in whoops of laughter. And he can’t even get angry, because Clarke laughing may be among his top five of most beautiful things in the world. So he lets her have this and waits until she’s caught her breath again before putting on a mock-serious expression.

“That’s really mature of you, Clarke.”

Still wheezing, she swats his arm playfully. “You looked so scared!”

“I wouldn’t say scared, exactly…”

“You expect me to believe that Bellamy Blake, commitment-phobe extraordinaire, doesn’t get scared at the prospect of getting married?”

Not as much as he should right now, Bellamy thinks, before catching up with her words. “I’m not a commitment-phobe!”

“Oh really?” She cocks an eyebrow disbelievingly. “I’ve never seen you with the same woman twice.”

“Maybe it was never the right woman.” He says it softly and earnestly, and from the way her eyes widen, he knows she’s wondering if he means what she thinks he means. It’s his little bit of revenge not to elaborate. “I can’t believe you waited four years just to make this joke.”

She grins. “And did it ever pay off! You should have seen your face.”

That threatens to set off another round of giggles, but she is thankfully stopped when Allie turns around to them. “Why are you laughing auntie Clarke?”

“I’m laughing because I managed to play a trick on your uncle Bellamy.”

She smiles mischievously, but Allie’s face turns serious. “You shouldn’t do that. He really likes you.”

That makes the smile on Clarke’s face brighten even more. “Does he now?”

Bellamy groans – between Clarke and his altogether too shrewd little niece, there’s no chance of him getting out of this with his dignity intact. But Clarke takes her goddaughter’s hands with an earnest expression. “Don’t worry honey, I’m sure he knows I didn’t mean any harm. I really like your uncle Bellamy too.”

Visibly relieved, Allie pulls Clarke up to show her the elephants. Clarke lets herself be dragged along, but not before throwing a smile back over her shoulder that makes Bellamy’s heart stop for a second.

By the time he’s shaken himself out of his daze and followed them to the elephant enclosure, Bellamy has made up his mind. Stepping up to the fence next to Clarke, he tries to keep his voice casual when he asks: “How about this: We start by having a drink, and then we’ll decide if we still want to get married.”

She makes him wait for several agonisingly long moments before smiling brightly once more. “I’d like that.”

Bellamy’s tempted to just kiss her then and there, and judging by the way she’s looking at him, he guesses she wouldn’t exactly mind. But he has a feeling that what has built up in him over the years will take more than just a kiss to release, and there are children around. The decision is taken out of his hands when Octavia joins them, looking rested but a little sunburned.

Allie turns to her mother excitedly. “Mommy, you were right, they do like each other.”

Of course his sister is behind this, Bellamy thinks as he sees her smug smile. Octavia has also not-so-subtly let him know that Clarke is single just this morning, and regularly over the past months since his last girlfriend broke up with him.

“Of course they do, sweetie.”

“Really, O? Indoctrinating your own daughter?”

“She asked me why you’re always staring at Clarke. She thought you were angry at her, she was ready to physically protect her auntie from you. So I told her that you were only pretending to be angry because you like her and some people don’t know how to show it when they like other people.” She shrugs. “It’s not even a lie, really.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Bellamy sees Clarke biting her lip to stifle her laughter, and he glares at his sister. But Octavia, wholly unimpressed, simply picks up Allie and jogs on to the next enclosure, the giggling girl thrown over her shoulder.

“So you’ve been staring at me?”

Bellamy’s face feels as if it’s about to go up in flames. “You’re one to talk – you tried to trap me into marrying you.”

Laughing, Clarke hooks an arm around his waist and starts to lead him away from the elephants. “Maybe we’re just both really hopeless causes.”

Following her lead, he puts an arm around her shoulder and marvels at the fact that she lets him. “I don’t know, I think there’s still some hope left for us.”

***

They end up getting married two years after Clarke’s birthday, and in her toast, Octavia claims to have "worked tirelessly” to get them together. Which is ridiculous, Bellamy knows, unless she somehow orchestrated Clarke finding out about her cheating boyfriend on the same day Bellamy was supposed to feed the hellcat. Because really, that’s when it all started.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It started out as a bit of a crack idea, but now I kind of love the idea of Octavia as a kind of corporate warrior, shattering the glass ceiling and making a ton of money so Lincoln can concentrate on his art. Oh, by the way, I don't for a second think Clarke would be 'desperate' to get married. But I do think she would play this joke on Bellamy.


End file.
